(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrophoretic apparatus, and more specifically to an electrophoretic apparatus having treating capability higher than that of the conventional apparatus.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
The electrophoresis is used for analyzing proteins contained in sera. The electrophoresis includes a step to apply serum to a carrier made of cellulose acetate film or the similar material and another step to form fractionated patterns of the serum by electrically energizing the carrier. An example of electrophoretic apparatus used in the step to form fractionated patterns is shown in FIG. 1. In this drawing, the reference numeral 1 represents the electrophoretic apparatus main body, the reference numeral 2 designates a cover, the reference numerals 3 and 3' denote filter paper supports held to the main body, for example, attached to the front and rear end faces of the main body 1 by a suitable means, the reference numerals 4 and 4' represent filter papers mounted at one end on the filter paper supports 3 and 3' respectively, the reference numeral 5 designates a carrier overlapped at both ends with the filter papers 4 and 4' and mounted on the filter paper supports 3 and 3', the reference numeral 6 and 6' denote carrier clamps, the reference numerals 7 and 7' represent electrodes, and the reference numerals 8 and 8' designate buffer solutions which are contained in the two electrode chambers separated with a partition plate 1a and in which the other ends of the filter papers 4 and 4' are dipped. In such an electrophoretic apparatus, electrical current flows from the electrode 7 to the other electrode 7' by way of the buffer solution 8, filter paper 4, carrier 5, the other filter paper 4' and the other buffer solution 8' to from fractionated patterns of a serum applied on the carrier. Such an electrophoretic apparatus requires 30 to 50 minutes for forming fractionated patterns of a serum, and such a long time required for forming fractionated patterns has constituted hindrance to enhance treating capability in electrophoresis.
In order to enhance treating capability of electrophoretic apparatus without changing the energizing time, it will be contrived to use a large number of electrophoretic apparatuses, but such solution will have a defect that it requires a large number of electrophoretic apparatuses and a wide space for installing the electrophoretic apparatuses. Though there is available another method to enhance treating capability by using an electrophoretic apparatus having larger length than that of the conventional electrophoretic apparatus, such a method requires a larger electrophoretic apparatus and is undesirable in practice. As a third method to enhace treating capability, there is contrived an electrophoretic apparatus having three electrode chambers one of which is used commonly for treating two carriers at a time. This electrophoretic apparatus is smaller than a combination of two electrophoretic apparatuses and has treating capability corresponding to two apparatuses, but is still too large for convenient practice. Furthermore, there is available a fourth method (called microzone) which permits doubling treating capability, i.e., applying double number of sera on a carrier at intervals equal to 1/2 of those usually selected in applying sera. However, this method does not permit convenient observation of electrophoretic patterns. For accurate photometry with a densitometer, the method requires scanning precisely at central portion of the narrow electrophoretic patterns with a minimized light spot for photometry, which in turn requires remarkable improvements in photometric optical system and electrical system.
Moreover, it is contrivable to use the electrophoretic apparatus having the construction shown in FIG. 1 in such a manner that it can treat twice the number of samples at a time by arranging samples or applying sera in two rows in the energizing direction on a carrier as shown in FIG. 2. However, this method has defects that moisture is vaporized from the carrier surface due to Joule's heat produced by energizing and that flow of buffer solution in the carrier caused by electroendosmosis as well as concentration thereof is different between the anode side and cathode side, whereby analytical result is different between samples applied on the anode side and those applied on the cathode side due to difference in electrophoretic development between both the sides.